News Brief

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TrainRiders/NE Board Elects First Executive Director

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Written by TRN WebmasterTRN Webmaster

Published: 18 January 201718 January 2017

PRESS RELEASE: TrainRiders Northeast, the non-profit, volunteer, rail advocacy organization founded in 1989 announced today that it has hired its first ever Executive Director, George O’Keefe, Jr., of Winthrop. O’Keefe is currently a Master’s Degree candidate in the Policy, Planning, and Management Program, with a concentration in Organizational Leadership and Management, at the Muskie School of Public Service.

O’Keefe will work alongside TrainRiders’ longtime Chairman and co-founder Wayne E. Davis to help the organization expand its mission of bringing “modern and efficient” passenger rail service to the Northeast. “A balanced transportation system is what we need in order to provide for sustainable economic opportunities that will last for generations,” said O’Keefe.

28th Annual TrainRiders/NE Meeting - 2016

The 28th Annual Meeting of TrainRiders/Northeast welcomed 100 attendees at the Clarion Hotel in Portland (next to the Transportation Center). Many of those came by train, so it was a quick walk from the station to the hotel.

Senator Angus King saluted the Downeaster and TrainRiders/NE in a video presentation, complementing Wayne Davis for his vision and passion. Watch his comments here.

Eugene Skoropowski, Sr VP of Operations for All Aboard Florida's "Brightline", was the guest speaker. Gene's expertise is putting Florida on the map as a passenger-train-friendly state. He gave an impressive PowerPoint presentation, the slides of which can be viewed here.

First Quarter Performance Stats Show a Record Three Months!

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Written by TRN WebmasterTRN Webmaster

Published: 25 October 201625 October 2016

Ridership & Revenue: There isn't much commentary needed for the performance numbers released yesterday at NNEPRA's Board Meeting. Executive Director Patricia Quinn smiled as she reported that the first quarter of FY2017 set a 15-year record for Ridership and Revenue.

The ridership numbers reported this week have been updated due to an error. As you can see in the graphic, 37,349 was entered in all three 2016 months. The FY16 Actual numbers are:

Open House at the Brunswick Layover Facility

Another milestone today for the Amtrak Downeaster as NNEPRA held an Open House at the 655' long, three-trainset barn.

The entire NNEPRA staff was present answering questions from the hundreds of visitors. As one observer said, "What was all the fuss about?" Enjoy the comments.

NNEPRA and its staff have been through YEARS of opposition from the neighboring community and this event celebrated the rail authority's accomplishment - an indoor facility to service the Downeaster trainsets (welcomed by the maintenance crews, particularly in the winter); an additional Brunswick-Boston round trip on November 21st; a more flexible schedule; and a welcome boost to efficiency, ridership and revenue.

NNEPRA 2016 Annual Meeting

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Written by TRN WebmasterTRN Webmaster

Published: 14 October 201614 October 2016

NNEPRA held its Annual Meeting last night in Freeport, Maine. Executive Director Patricia Quinn released the best statistic of the evening: "Fiscal year 2017 started strong with our highest first quarter ridership since the service was inaugurated!"

Much of the second quarter of FY2017 will suffer due to the current service disruption as some 15,000 ties are being replaced on the PanAm section of the line between Wells and Portland. This work is scheduled to end on November 21st when the third round trip from Brunswick to Boston will begin. This schedule improvement is due primarily to the Brunswick Layover Facility, which will go 'on line' next month.

Video of a trainset entering the BLF was scheduled to be shown at the meeting - produced by Maine HDTV in cooperation with Consigli Construction, NNEPRA and Amtrak. You can view it here.